Porta Palazzo

I’ve been living the Torino for 7 months and 1 week. In all this time I have not dared to venture to one of the largest outdoor markets in all of Europe (it‘s in all the guide books), namely Porta Palazzo until last week. Many people have warned me not to go there alone, they’ve told me it can be dangerous, and the chance of getting pick pocketed is fairly high. I’ve been wanting to go especially after my friend here Laurie told me this is where she goes to find cilantro. We made plans to trek over to the market about a month ago but never did.

Federica, a friend of a friend, scoffed at me when I told her I was wary about the market's reputation. She led the way as we meandered my car through the narrow and crowded streets to the grand parking garage. She knows the area very well and led me through the farmers market, meat shops, fish market, cheese shops, ethnic groceries, clothes and shoe vendors, until we toured the entire grounds. We stopped at her favorite vendors which included a very friendly bread man, aka panettiere, who offered to take us horseback riding.

Here were the highlights of our market trip:

Sour cream
Dill
Corn on the cob
Beets
Cannolicchi (can-no-lee-key)- a rare razor clam from the Adriatic Sea
Live eels
Wintermelon
Baby bak-choi
Cilantro
Quail eggs
Gang Kung or Ong Choi-an Asian green sometimes called swamp cabbage
Mangoes
Limes
Fresh olives
Loads and loads of porcini mushrooms

I had a wonderful time discovering this market on owe Federica a debt of gratitude. Deme and I plan to go at least once a month to stock up on ethnic goods. I bought half a kilo (1 pound) of fairly large shrimps, about 7 Euros worth, so that night we had a nice shrimp curry.